Not so long ago, the way to protect ones privacy was to lock the front door and draw the shades. Thats all there was to it.
All that has changed, largely due to the digital revolution.
Now there are privacy protection measures all over the place. Every year, the doctor has patients sign a privacy agreement. Pharmacy customers must stand behind the white line so as not to hear anything they shouldnt: PINs, passwords, last four digits, mothers maiden names, dates of birth and secret questions.
All these annoying safeguards are still not good enough. An IJN article on this weeks Gift Guide page warns against identity theft when shopping online.
This week Facebook, to its credit, agreed to a 20-year privacy settlement with the US government that would require the company to
ask users for permission before changing the way their personal information is released.
It seems that we consumers want to have it both ways. We get annoyed with complying with privacy safe- guards, but we dread the prospect of our computers getting hacked into or our identities getting stolen.
Then well turn around, open Facebook or Twitter and, with a few keystrokes, let the whole world know what were thinking, our gender, political and religious affiliations and what our children look like, even where were having dinner.
Whether its online shopping or Facebook posting, most sharing of personal information these days is voluntary. There are bad people out there who will do bad things with the information they glean from cyberspace, but the responsibility for the protection of privacy is on the consumer.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
